Made It! Father's Day Framey

Backtracking - 15th June 2008

Time to get cracking with that frame for Father's Day, so got up early to finish my masterpiece (?!?!) Took the photo and matted it onto a background I had made that is a continuation of the colours on the frame. I also got brave and added some colour directly onto the photo (eep!) so the sand in it looks yellow. It just looked a bit odd having the photo completely black and white, and I think adding some light sandy yellow to it has made Freaky Deaky Dad and bro stand out more..?

Thanks to my Freaky Deaky Friendie introducing me to gel medium, glueing on the shells and beads was a piece of cake. I put my brain into "seaside" mode and added all and sundry I could think of that would be on the seashore...

• big shells
• pebbles/gravel (I smashed up a few shells and used beads to create these items!)
• driftwood (I used a bit of pot-pourri snaffled from some Mumsy was chucking out!)
• fishing nets (used mesh)
• fish (friendly plastic fish!!! Yay!)
• flotsum and jetsum (covers just about everything else I stuck on !)

I had some star washers - used embossing powders on to distress them, so they fitted in and looked rusty, and like they had been washed up onto the beach. I smashed up a few shells and did the same, used my embossing powders to make them look distressed. The finishing touches were simple - 4 doo-dads in using appropriate words "adventure" "explore" "play" "laugh", and finally, I stamped Brighton 1953 using my fave word generating rubber stamp, the provocraft wheel stamp, and attached with waxy flax, buttons and good old gel medium.

Freaky Deaky Dad was well chuffed, and the frame has pride of place, where else, but in the bathroom!

BTW, they are wearing woollen bathing suits - embarassing!!! All the rage in 1953 - or so I am told! ;)

Going Under...

Backtracking - 9th June 2008

...under the sea!

It's a theme for ATC_addicts_R_us this month and I have gotten rather into the jo-zone with this one. There is something about sea colours that make me go ooooh and I had loadsa fun playing with these backgrounds and creating collage-y style under sea scenes. Above you can see are the works in progress...

The backgrounds are actually wallpaper samples courtesy of Sainsburys Homebase (!!!) to which I have added colour with my ink pads and twinkling H20s - see how the spots on the wallpaper have resisted more intense colours? I love that effect!

I have decided that Friendly Plastic is now *definately* my friend - I used it to create the starfish on the ATC this ATC "The Weight of Water" using one of several molds that have been gathering dust in ye olde craft room. Had fun distressing star washers (from DIY store!) with clear inkpads and B-Muse embossing powders (love those powders, must buy more!)

There are heaps of elements used on the final ATCs from charms to crimped tigertail, from ball and chain to beads, from mesh to mulberry paper. A right mish-mash of stuff, but somehow it
works! (I think...?)

Ripped up a dictionary for the various words... some of them are rather teeny-weeny so to see them proper-like you'll have to click on them ;)

(Un) Friendly Plastic ???

Backtracking - 8th June 2008

Friendly Plastic... or is it? In the past, it has been most unfriendly, but a great mate of mine has helped me to bond with it - she showed me how to work with it properly (I had been just messing round, not really knowing exactly what to do with the stuff until now) - thank you friendie! :) A couple of days later I got my Friendly Plastic out again and made some masks and some buttons using some molds I have had lurking in the room of craft since Xmas and not really used... some of the masks/faces look slightly warped... ooer!!!

A couple of days later I had a bit of a problem thought... having bonded with Friendly Plastic (with the help of a rolling pin and spatula "borrowed" from my nephew's playdoh kit) I couldn't then de-bond from it!!! Heeeeelllp!!!

Doh! The skewer lived to tell the tale, and the beads I created on it have since been used on some ATCs. As for the rolling pin... I am afraid it had to be consigned to the dustbin (sorry nephew of mine, I will get you another rolling pin for your playdoh ready for your next visit!)

So is Friendly Plastic really friendly? Well, I think only time will tell...! :p